William Saliba is out of Arsenal’s trip to West Ham and faces a race to be fit for their title decider against Manchester City on April 26.
Saliba injured his back on March 16 when Arsenal crashed out of the Europa League by losing to Sporting Lisbon on penalties.
The centre-back has still not returned to training and Mikel Arteta has confirmed that he will miss Sunday’s game at West Ham.
The Arsenal boss hopes Saliba will be back “in the next few weeks”, with the Gunners travelling to the Etihad Stadium in 12 days’ time.
“William is still not available,” said Arteta on Friday. “He’s progressing well and we’re hopeful that we’ll have him available in the next few weeks. We’ll have to see.
“He’s not far off starting to do that (train on the grass). Obviously we need to be cautious because of the injury but he’s evolving well.”
Arsenal are currently six points clear of City at the top of the Premier League with just eight games to go.
City, however, have a game in hand on the Gunners and they can close the gap to only three points if they defeat struggling Leicester on Saturday.
If Arsenal and City finished the campaign level on points then the title would be decided on goal difference, with City currently better off by five in that department heading into the weekend.
“We think about everything,” said Arteta, when quizzed on that possibility.
“Obviously we want to win matches first and earn the right to win it and then score as many goals as possible. You have to be open to every single possibility. Every day is a different story.”
